Avalyn
by kateskillingme
Summary: Prompted from "Their teenage twin daughters are in trouble." A take on Beckett and Castle's kids told through the eyes of one of their teenage daughters. Rated T for language, some strong situations and light petting.
1. Party Foul

_So this was born from a tumblr prompt ("Their teenage twin daughters are in trouble") and it just blossomed into a beautiful creative butterfly that kept me up at night. I'll keep it light, but while this chapter is a bit more fluff the story will develop into a stronger plot with a couple twists and turns._

_**Disclaimer: Any characters related to the TV Castle are currently owned by ABC and Andrew Marlowe. Any new characters are created by pure imagination.** _

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"You think this was a good idea now?!" she heard her sister whisper – or wait yell – yeah that was definitely a yell. Huh, strange. I guess this is what happens when you're drunk.

They had been invited to a warehouse party, well she was invited and being the 'nice' sister that she was forced her twin to come along. I mean it was Saturday night and their parents were out at some charity function so why not. It also gave Ava the chance to get Ella out of the loft and avoid studying for SATs.

"Supers good idea," she spat back at Ella.

And it was a good idea. The party was popping, literally and figuratively. They had gotten there around midnight and the bubbles had already began to flow.

"Seriously a foam party?! How is that a good idea Ava! Now we're both covered in I don't even know what anymore, you're plastered and I can't find my phone," Ella continued as they made their way into the elevator.

Oh yeah her phone – wait where is my phone? Damn. I finally got that cute senior girl's number and I don't even have my phone anymore.

Ella turned to face her and said, "We need a game plan. We need to get our story straight for mom and dad."

"Don'ts worry about them sis. They probably aren't even home yet," Ava said.

"Av," Ella said softly, "It's 5 a.m. WHERE ELSE WOULD THEY BE?" she yelled.

Just then the elevator dinged as it reached their floor. Ella got out first and so she grabbed her sister's arm and pulled her back. "Listen this is my fault so just, just blame me. I mean, I'm _technically_ already grounded so what's the worse that could happen?" Ava said as she dropped her head.

She heard Ella puff before she looked up at her again. People had always said that they looked like their mother – you know similar features and what not. They had her cheekbones, eyes and thank god they got her nose, but they ended up with their dad's eyes. And right now those were the eyes she was looking at in her sister. Deep blues filled with kindness and just a pinch of annoyance at the moment.

"No," Ella finally spoke. "We're in this together, come on," she said as she pulled Ava out of the elevator to the front door.

Ella took out her keys and fitted one into the door before she turned to Ava and said, "Ready?"

Ava just nodded. She had been in trouble before and come on her dad was Richard Castle. Before Kate Beckett came into his life he was known to party from time to time. If they did encounter their parents tonight they'd have enough past party baggage to avoid any serious punishment.

The lock clicked open and the girls entered the loft. The entrance light was still dimmed, but the rest of the room was dark.

"Oh good, they're asleep," Ella whispered.

Just then the kitchen light flipped on and there he was, standing in the kitchen, scotch glass in hand and still in his tux.

"Good morning," he said flatly.

Ava felt her sister slump down beside her, so she took the opportunity to step up.

"Oh hey dad. Didn't think you would still be awake. Did you and mom have a nice time at the event? What was it for this time, kids or cops?"

"Kids and it was great thanks for asking," he retorted back. "You know how much I love a good party - the food, the drinks, the dancing, your mother - it made for quite an enjoyable evening."

"Oh great, I'm glad you had–" she said before getting cut off.

"That was before we came home to find your brother alone on the couch and you two no where to be seen," he continued. "So tell me Ava, what was it this time, kids or cops?"

"Come on dad you know I'm not into kids anymore, I enjoy a grown woman," she sassed back at him.

He moved from around the counter and walked towards the two of them before he stopped to get a good look at what they we wearing and whatever they were covered in.

"Must've been fun," he started.

Ella took the opportunity to speak up, but their father stopped them again.

"Look it's late, or rather early, and I don't really want to deal with this right now so how about you two head upstairs and we'll talk about this is the morning," he said as he took another step forward and kissed the both of them on top of their heads.

The two of them then started to climb the stairs when he spoke again, "Oh and don't forget Sunday brunch of at 9 a.m. so have a good nap."

They both just continued up the steps, "Oh god I do not want to deal with mom at 9 a.m. I just want to shower and sleep," Ava said.

"Literally same," Ella laughed.

The twins reached the top and made their way to their room. Ava entered first, "Oh damn."

"What?" Ella asked.

She then shortly answered her own question, because there she was - their mother - calmly sitting on Ava's bed, legs and arms crossed and still dressed in her black evening gown looking like a freaking super model at 5 a.m.

The girls just looked at each other and then back to their mom.

"Good morning babes," she spoke. "Got a minute to chat?"

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**tumblr: kateskillingme **

**Come talk to me about this story and any other thing on your mind! **


	2. Sunday Brunch

**Disclaimed.**

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Sunday Brunch

She woke up to drumming. Actual snare and bass drums drumming – well not the drums were drumming, but something was banging on freaking drums. She squeezed her eyes tighter and lifted her pillow over her head in hopes that the feathers would muffle the drumming, but no luck the drums were still being drummed.

"Ugh," she groaned rolling over to face their room. She fluttered her eyes open after only getting what felt like 10 minutes of sleep to see her sister sitting at her desk. "How are you awake, and who the hell is drumming!" Ava shouted.

Ella must not have been fully awake yet either because the sound of Ava's screams caused her to jump. "Seriously A?! Be a bit more considerate at 8 a.m." Ella said as she straightened herself in the desk chair.

Ava sat up in bed and apologized to her twin, "Sorry sis I get a little angry when I don't get my recommended 14 hours of sleep."

She then got out of bed and strutted over to Ella's desk, "What're you doing at 8 a.m. anyway? Did you even sleep at all?" she asked placing her hands on her sister's shoulders and looking over them to see what she was working on.

"I'm just catching up on the studying I missed last night," Ella said.

"Oh come on L!" Ava quipped at her, "I took you out last night so you would have a little fun for once not so you can wake up early the next day and study some more. This is the time of our lives, we should be dancing in the street until dawn and then come back home and lounge until night falls again."

"Yeah well, it's hard to wake up early when you never went to bed" Ella started as she closed the textbook and turned around to face her, "I want to be able to support myself in the future and by how well you're doing in your courses right now it looks like I'll be supporting you too."

She squatted down to be face level with Ella and said, "See this is why I keep you around, so when mom and dad finally kick me out of the house I'll have a couch to sleep on," and then proceeded to place a wet kiss to her sister's cheek.

"You're gross," Ella complained.

"Yeah tell me something I don't know," Ava responded as she made her way to the door. "Well, I'm going out to see what the hell woke me up this morning. It's probably some evil joke that mom and dad are playing on me for sneaking out and 'breaking' my grounding regulations."

"Wait aren't you going to change?" she heard Ella say.

Ava took a moment to look at her 'pajamas'- an old, and now too small Batman tshirt and a pair of boyshorts. "Why? It's just family," she said back.

"Yeah maybe, but what if we have unexpected company?"

"Ooh even better," Ava said as she turned and left their bedroom.

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"Alright let's play a game," Ava started saying as she descended the stairs, "The first person to tell me why I am awake at 8 a.m. gets one genuine compliment today. Anyone? Any guesses?"

"Ooh! Me! Me!" she heard her kid brother shout. "It's because I got my birthday present today!" Ethan yelled as he sat on the piano bench behind a pile of drums, his dark curls drooping over his bright green eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see her dad trying to assemble the rest of the drum set near the couch. She made her way over to him and sat down next to him on the floor. "Seriously dad you got a 12-year-old a drum kit for his birthday. Did you even consider to think of what this might do to me?" she said.

"What – it'll be fun!" he responded with a smirk. "We can even start a family band and travel the world," he continued as he nudged her in the ribs.

Ava got up and made her way towards Ethan. "Well punk you won the game and ruined my year all in the same sentence," she said patting him on the head as he tried to shake her off.

"You're just jealous," he smirked. "What's my compliment? Are you finally going to wish me a happy birthday?" Ethan had just turned 12 a week ago and yet he was already acting like an a teenager.

"Why would I wish you a happy birthday, you didn't do any work to get here on this day. I should be wishing mom a happy 'hey you're finally done with labor'," Ava quipped back at her baby brother. She pushed back his curls on his forehead and gave him a flurburt kiss.

He giggled and pushed her away before she wandered into the kitchen to find her mother working on some kind of batter for Sunday brunch.

"Good morning mommy," Ava said with a tone. "Did you sleep well because I didn't."

"Just fine Avalyn, thanks for asking," Kate said back to her daughter.

"Oh come on now Katherine, there is no need to be formal," Ava responded as she creeped around her mother to grab a raspberry.

Her mom just gave her the classic 'Kate Beckett SuperCop Interrogator' look and Ava knew that it was time to stop. She always had a sarcastic manner inside her, ever since she was younger she had made snarky comments that ended up with her receiving that look.

"Alright, alright I'll cool it. I mean, it is the lord's day after all," Ava apologized to her mother.

"When did we become religious," Ava heard Ella say.

"We didn't – well at least I didn't, but it still doesn't make Sunday any less of the lord's day right? I still consider it pre-Monday, which is still shitty."

"Ava," her mom said with force.

"Right sorry, 'shotty', pre-Monday is still shotty?" Ava said.

"I actually enjoy Sunday's," Ella said. "We get to have brunch with Pops and then I get to study like a normal weekday without you dragging me out anywhere."

Ava just huffed and then grabbed her mom's hands before saying, "Mom, I'm begging you here, we need to fix Ella. I can't keep telling people that we aren't related – she looks just like me!"

"Oh wow she does – creepy," she hears her dad say as he makes his way towards her mom in the kitchen. He places a soft kiss to her temple and reaches behind her to grab a raspberry. "Ooh pancakes, my favorite."

"You guys are so sickening, I'm not going to be able to go to school tomorrow I caught a case of my parent's happiness," Ava quipped.

"Ha ha very funny," her mom said, "But no you're going to school tomorrow and then you get to come right to the precinct to finish your community service."

Right community service, the same community service her mother served her with when she got caught holding pills for her now ex-girlfriend. Kennedy had been Ava's first love and at the time she would have easily gone to jail for her, but now all she has for that girl is hate. To make matters worse she has had to complete her community service with her at the same precinct her mom works at as captain.

"Come on mom, even you're not that evil. Can't I just finish the hours at the library or something – hey I know what I can do! I can go do some undercover Vice work, you know kill two birds with one stone. Get a perp to try to solicit a minor, how cool would that be?"

"I hell I let my daughter –"

"Castle," she heard her mom say to him as she circled around the bar to come face to face with Ava. "Honey, I know you hate seeing her there, but her dad has a lot of pull with 1PP and the DA's office so as much as you hate it you still need to do it. Uncle Kevin and I tried to do everything we could to make sure you didn't get any jail time babe."

"Mom I already told you they weren't mine," she tried to say with force, but it just came out as a child struggling for acceptance.

"I know baby," she said as she pulled Ava into a hug and brushed her hand through her hair. "The good thing is that you only have 10 hours left to complete and then you're done. Just one more week kid, I swear."

Ava held back tears as she surrendered to her mom's embrace. It didn't matter that she had gotten busted or that Kennedy broke her heart that night all that mattered was how disappointed her parents looked at the precinct. The fact that Captain Beckett and 'famous novelist' Richard Castle had to come bail out their teenage kid. It might have only been 6 months ago, but the event was still fresh in her mind.

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**A/N: You all are beautiful creatures. **

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	3. Busted

_Alright guys this one is a bit of a doozy and where the bulk of the storyline is set up, so now I will let you read on. _

**Disclaimed.**

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Busted

Her and Kennedy had been seeing each other for over half the school year. She was the first girl she liked since she had accepted the fact that she liked girls, and Ken was fun. She was always up for an adventure in the middle of the night and still down for a quiet cuddle during the day. She was the dream girl. That was until she started hanging out with her older brother. He had gotten kicked out of Columbia for cheating and this time their 'daddy' couldn't make it go away.

So he was back and he was persuasive. There is nothing a rich privileged kid loves more than trying to break the law, and that's exactly what Cooper made her and Kennedy do.

The first couple times Ken sold Ava was with her, but she was never the dealer in the situation. But one night Kennedy said she couldn't sneak out of the house to sell to this guy so Ava had to do it for her. She got to Ken's house and Cooper was the one who answered the door and told Ava what to do. Only he forgot to mention that they were selling to an undercover cop.

She got busted with nearly 50 oxycontin pills and 100 adderall pills; basically enough for up to 5 years in prison according to her uncle Kevin. She got booked under her legal name down at the 30th precinct and didn't have the courage to tell anyone who her parents were; she just asked for her one phone call.

"Kevin Ryan," he answered.

"Hey uncle Kev, it's Ava."

"Hey Ava how are you? Everything alright?"

She paused, unable to tell her godfather that no everything was not alright, that she was currently in holding at the 30th precinct uptown because she got busted for holding pills for her girlfriend's crazy drug dealing older brother.

"Uhh," she started saying, "Yeah everything is good, but um uncle Kev can you come pick me up? It's late and you know my dad has that big meeting tomorrow for his new series. I wouldn't ask unless this was an absolute emergency."

"Um, sure kid I don't mind. I actually need to run down to the store to get some milk for breakfast tomorrow. Where are you at?"

"30th precinct, uh uptown," she answered almost like a question.

"Oh come on," he said in a disappointing tone followed by a long pause. "You know I'm gonna have to call your mom if you're in trouble."

"No, no pleaase uncle Kevin, just first come down here and see what you can do. I don't want my parents name involved. This is my mess," she finally admitted.

"Kid if this is your mess why are you calling me?"

She waits a moment, for once, carefully choosing her words. "Uncle Kev I messed up, bad. I know you aren't technically a cop anymore, but I could really use someone I know on this. I'm trusting you because well – because it has to do with drugs."

"Drugs?"

"Yeah pills. Look I know that you used to work in narcotics, you think you can call a couple buddies and maybe we can all work this out – pass a couple cold ones around after," Ava said, trying to lighten the mood of this telephone conversation.

"Ava you can just call and make all your problems go away. If you're in serious trouble, which it sounds like you are, you need to call your parents – now."

"I can't call them! If I call them my dad is either going to 'have a guy' who can handle this or my mom is going to go against everything she stands for and use her badge to get me out. I'm not asking for much, I just need you to come down here and help me out. Maybe talk to some people about me doing community service for 5 years instead of going to juvie for 2. You don't have a badge anymore, you can't lose it anyway. I know I'm a shitty kid and I'm ungrateful or whatever, but I'm just that – a kid. A kid who needs her uncle to help her in any way that he can. So please uncle Kev, can you help me out this once?" she pleaded with him.

She was scared, but when she finally broke down it sounded just like insults to him. He didn't lose his badge, he gave it up. He and Jenny decided it was time to put the badge away and join his brother-in-law's security business as a safer solution for their kid's future. All uncle Kevin wanted to do was help people, especially his family and at this point Ava was family.

"I'll see what I can do," was all that he said before hanging up.

It was hours before she was released from holding and immediately put into an interrogation room. Twenty minutes later she was joined by two detectives, a man and a woman. The guy was older, grey hairs started to take over his sideburns, maybe early 50s. The woman was younger, possibly early 30s, blonde, just her type if she wasn't currently trying to put her in jail.

"I know my rights, you can't question me without my legal guardian present and since you don't know who that is I guess you gotta let me go," Ava said.

"Come on now Ava, we're detectives you don't think we know who your parents are by now," the woman said as she took a seat at the table of the interrogation room.

"Well, they still aren't present so you can't question me," Ava quipped back.

"No you're right," the older detective spoke. "We can't question you without a legal guardian here so we're just going to talk and you're going to listen."

"Okay," was all that Ava was able to say, having had the tables turned on her.

"So we know the pills aren't yours," the man spoke, "But they were in your possession and you were handing them to our undercover detective. So Miss Rodgers we can charge you with possession with intent to sell and you can battle your way through court until you get charged and sentenced to no less than 5 years in _adult_ prison."

Ava just sat in silence as the detective spoke, unsure if she should cry or try to fight back and tell them the truth.

"But see we don't want to send a young kid to prison," the female detective then began to speak. "We want to send the older, original drug pusher to prison. See we cut the head off of the snake and then the snake is gone, but if we only cut off a part of his tail the snake can regenerate and grow an even bigger, better tail."

"Now we know we can't legally question you without a parent present, but if we were able to question you these would be the questions we would ask," the older detective spoke again. "For instance, where'd you get the pills from? Do you know who that person got the pills from? Are there any other dealers you know about receiving the same shipment of pills? You know kid, the basics."

The female detective followed up by saying, "You scratch our backs and we scratch yours. Tell us who you got the pills from and we'll talk deals with the DA."

Ava sat there for a moment as she watched the two detectives exchange glances at one another. She then said, "Yeah sure I'll tell you what I know."

She leaned forward and motioned the detectives to come closer so she was able to whisper to them. "I'll tell you again that you can't question me without my parent present," she shouted before sliding back into her chair.

"You know I expected this from you," she said as she pointed to the older male cop, "Maybe you'd use this opportunity for them to force you into early retirement and save your pension, but you" she said now speaking to the woman detective, "You're just starting out, but this, this could ruin you and that's not something an attractive, respectable detective like yourself would want is it," Ava said scooting forward with every word.

She knew she had them stunned for the moment, but they were right; she was facing some serious prison time if this didn't work out – if her uncle couldn't fix this. At the same time it was hard for her to turn the sass off, it's like ingrained in her personality – it is her personality.

"So with that being said," Ava continued with ease, "Can I get a soda or something?"

Something she said must have finally broke the old detective, because as soon as the question left her mouth he pushed himself out of his chair and slammed his folder on the table. "It's shitty, entitled, rich kids who think that their parents can buy them out of the law that makes me want to retire. So yes Miss Rodgers you're right, I have nothing to lose here, but you kid – you could lose everything. This though, this is your opportunity to make a change in your life. Tell us about the pills."

Ava sat up in the metal chair. He was right, she was a shitty kid, but entitled no; her parents had money, not her. The entitled assholes who this detective needs to be interrogating is a major politician's son, but throwing Cooper under the bus would take Kennedy down with him. Was she really ready to take Kennedy with her on this. She was her girlfriend and she said it would be easy, just a quick drop off. 'Come on Ava, if she truly loved you wouldn't she be here helping,' she thought. But maybe Ken doesn't know she's here, maybe she just thinks that they deal is taking longer than expected – only 4 hours is a bit of stretch.

"Can I make another phone call?" was the only thing she was able to mutter.

"Sorry kid, time's almost up. Tell us who gave you the pills and then you can make all the phone calls you want," the female detective finally chimed in again.

Ava bowed her head and finally decided it was time to grow up. Kennedy obviously didn't care that she was going down for her brother's crime. So she decided that if she was going down, she might as well take them with her – an eye for an eye.

"Alright, I'll give them up," she began.

"Stop talking," she heard the familiar voice as the door to the interrogation room swung open. And there she was to save the day, the impenetrable Captain Kate Beckett.

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_A/N: Okay so this chapter was originally a whole lot longer, but I made the executive decision to break it up into two chapters. However, I don't want to leave you without the whole story because I like to think that I'm a nice person. Soooo the next chapter will be up shortly. _

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	4. Busted 2

**Disclaimed.**

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Busted

"Mom?" Ava choked out as the blood rushed to her cheeks. "How did you –"

"I said stop talking," she reprimanded her daughter.

Ava had never seen her mom look this way. She was in one of her 'boss-ass bitch' suits and she had a stare that could make a grown man cry. I guess her being in an interrogation room was pretty natural for Kate Beckett, but there was a completely different woman in this room than her mom Kate Beckett married to Richard Castle, goofyball father. The woman in this room was Captain Beckett coming to rescue her screw-up of a daughter.

"I'm quite sure you have an incredible explanation as to why you're questioning a minor without legal counsel or guardian present detectives."

In this moment she sounded like a lawyer, not like a cop and most definitely not her mom. In this moment Ava was proud and very, very intimidated.

"I'm unsure how regulation is handled up here at 30th, but I'm almost positive it's universal across all NYPD platforms," Beckett continued. She had the other detectives in the room on their toes, now standing up with their arms in their pockets, heads bowed, like two dogs getting punished for peeing on the couch.

"So let me ask this one simple question," Beckett continued, "Are you going to release my daughter now or shall I run this through 1PP and wait until they bring IA in here and search through all your cases?"

Hell yeah mom, work them.

"Captain Beckett, I uh, we didn't know she was your daughter. Her file only brought up the last name Rodgers," the female detective finally spoke. "We can get her paperwork filed and have you two out of here within the hour."

"That would be wise," Beckett stated. She still stood tall within the room, making her superior presence known.

"Actually," the male detective spoke, "We aren't going to release her."

Kate looked at the man as if he has suffered a stroke. Her eyes narrowed at him and she crossed her arms before saying, "Excuse me?"

Ava noticed the tension in the room increase to an insurmountable level as she began to speak, "Come on dude, you're not going to win this –"

"I told you to stop talking," Beckett retorted.

"But –"

"Avalyn Jo you need to listen to me and stop talking. Now," her mom said to her with determination in her eyes.

Ava shut up and tried to listen to the conversation taking place in front of her, but she was lost in her thoughts. She was grateful that her mom was here now, but why was she here? Uncle Kevin should have been able to handle this without calling in the cavalry.

It wasn't until her mother mentioned her name again did she start to listen.

"Understood Clarke. Now do you mind if I have a moment alone with my daughter before we begin," Beckett asked.

With that the other detectives left the room and Ava witnessed her mother's mood and stance transform back into the woman she grew up with and not the cop that she was at work.

She sat up as her mom pulled a chair around to sit next to her. She was afraid to look her in the eyes, to see the face of disappointment stare directly back at her. It wasn't until she felt her mom's hand on her cheek did she realize that she had start to cry.

"Oh Ava, baby," she heard her mother's soothing voice. "Please tell me what happened."

It sounded like her mom was pleading with her. It sounded like she couldn't comprehend the fact that her kid was sitting in an interrogation room on the wrong side of the law.

Ava wiped away some of her tears, "Wont they be able to hear us though?" she said nodding towards the mirror. She once visited her parents at the 12th when she was in middle school as some sort of career day learning experience. Her uncle Javi took her into the monitoring room so she and Ella could see their parents at work.

Her mom wiped a tear from Ava's cheek before she grabbed her hands and said, "No they can't. This is technically privileged information," she informed her daughter. "And besides I have your uncle Kevin in there making sure that there is no other cheating happening in this precinct."

Ava looked at her and saw a small smile form across her mom's face at her little joke, so Ava tried to smile back.

"I messed everything up mom," Ava blurted out. "I didn't know I was going to get caught. Kennedy texted me earlier and told me that I needed to pick up the bag and drop it off in the mailbox near Rucker Park, but when I got to her house Cooper answered the door and he had a different plan. I know I shouldn't have done it in the first place, but Ken said that I needed to trust her and that after this night she would stop and we would go back to normal. She told me I needed to do this for Cooper that if I loved her I would help her brother out."

"Oh honey," was all that her mom was able to get out before Ava jolted herself into her mother's arms and continued to cry. She felt her mom place soothing circles on her back as she just whispered that it was going to be alright.

"I thought," Ava sobbed, "I thought she really loved me and that she would stop, but – but she just used me."

"It's alright, it's going to be alright," Kate repeated to her daughter. "But you need to listen to me and really listen, no smart remarks no trying to play it coy, just listen."

Ava nodded her head as her mother continued.

"Your uncle Kevin talked to a couple old friends and the detectives that were interrogating you were telling the truth, they don't want to charge you with anything serious at this point. But you're going to have to tell them about the pills and how you got them from Kennedy and Cooper."

"But mom I can't just throw her under the bus!" Ava yelled as she pulled her hands away from her mom's hold and sat back in the chair. "Kennedy was just a pawn in Cooper's game, just like me."

She waited as she watched her mom think through her next statement. It was apparent that her mom was keeping something from her and she didn't want to be coddled at this time. She just wanted the truth to come out and to be able to go home. She continued to stare at her mom with a determined look.

"I didn't want to bring this up, but Ella told me before we left that she found Kennedy taking the pills the other day," Kate said.

"Taking as in what, stealing them?"

"No babes, as in ingesting them. She was using."

Ava's heart stopped. What. No. No she would have known if she had been dating a user. No, Ella must have been wrong. Kennedy would have told her about the drugs that she had been taking them too. No, this was simply a game to them – an adrenaline rush, nothing more.

"Now your uncle and I have worked out a deal with the DA's office and the detectives will drop the chargers if you tell them about Cooper and Kennedy's involvement. You will have to complete 6 months of community service under my supervision at the precinct, but on your record it will simply show it as volunteer work," her mother finally said, breaking the panic that settled in Ava's body.

She didn't even have time to think everything through before the detectives were back in the room and taking her statement, the same statement she told her mom just moments before. Her mom had stayed in the room with her the entire time, simply holding her hand and giving the necessary push to make sure Ava told the whole story starting from the beginning.

The whole thing took nearly another hour before the paperwork was filed and Ava was able to leave the room. She was met out the door by her dad and uncle. She gave him a hug and thanked him for everything he did, even though calling her parents wasn't a part of the plan.

"Hey there's only so much a guy with no badge can really do," he said.

"I know on the phone I was a brat, but I'm really thankful that you helped me out uncle Kevin," she apologized. "And just so you know if I ever need a secret service agent you are on the top of my list."

"Yeah yeah" he smiled pulling her into another hug. "I'm just glad you're okay, and I know you're gonna hear a bunch of this from your parents in the near future, but you were reckless tonight and it nearly ended in a different way so be careful out there Ava, you're not invincible yet."

She let a small laugh leave her before she said goodbye to her uncle and went to face her father. He and her mom were signing a few more forms and chatting about the situation when she decided to approach them. He simply gave her a small smile and pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, "You're okay baby bird."

Even though at this moment all she felt was guilt she still knew that her parents loved her. It was just going to be hard to get the look of disappointment in their eyes to fade.

"Come on kid, let's get you home," he said making sure to keep his arm over her shoulder thinking that at any moment she might bolt.

And as soon as she saw Kennedy and Cooper walk out of the elevator with their father, bolting was the only thing she wanted to do.

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_A/N: Well there you have it folks, the second part to the bulk of this teenage tale. Tell me what you think on here or on tumblr. _

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	5. The Precinct

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

The Precinct

Brunch had been uneventful, unfortunately. Her mom had begged her to change before her Pops got there, but just as she was heading upstairs someone knocked and being the courteous host she was, she answered it. She let her Pops in and kissed him on the cheek before rushing upstairs to change, but not before giving her mom a wink.

The rest of the day the family spent in the family room. Ethan attempted to bang on his drums, while Ella studied in the kitchen. The fact that she was able to focus at all was a pure miracle, but the girl liked to study so studying she did. Ava kicked ass in some friendly family Guitar Hero and Mario Kart and thus earning the coveted 'Family Gamer of the Week' award. Finally after the necessary victory dance she passed out on the couch when they all were watching a movie.

She woke up a few hours later to an empty room. So she got up and made her way to the kitchen to grab an apple when she remembered that she lost her phone at the party last night. Good thing for her the family plan just got upgraded so they had some old iphones in her dad's office. She made her way across the loft when she heard them talking.

"What're we gonna do Rick?" she heard her mom first.

"I don't know Kate, I thought the grounding and her volunteering at precinct was helping," he answered.

"It is – I mean I think it is," she returned. "I mean, she's almost back to before her and Kennedy started dating. The quick responses and playful tact, but it's worse now. It's like she's using it as a defensive block. That maybe if she just acts like nothing happened then maybe nothing did, but then you just mention the name and she breaks down again."

Oh great they're talking about her and how she's making it difficult. I mean, her mom is right. She doesn't want to talk about Ken and the quips, well they're just fun to do. Besides, her mom was a rebel back in the day; shouldn't she be used to some good old fashion teenage angst.

"Hey, hey it's not as bad as it was before and like you said earlier they only have one week left of community service together and then maybe it'll get better," he said.

She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she heard her mom whimper.

"Did we make the right decision? Letting them do this together? I mean I thought in the beginning, when I saw how hurt Ava was that this was what she needed to move past her. That they would be able to work out their situation and go back to be friendly," she said through quiet tears.

"Babe, did we really want them to be friends again?"

Ha, true dad so true. But was that her mom's game plan all along? Force her and Kennedy to work together so they could become 'friendly' again. Because that is so not what she needed after a breakup, especially a bad breakup.

She finally decided that she didn't need to hear any more of this conversation and it was apparent that her parents didn't want her to know of their secret plans of friendship.

So she wandered back upstairs and took a shower before heading to her bedroom. When she entered she found Ella passed out on the desk over some chemistry book. Ava laughed at the situation before nicely shaking her sister awake enough to get her to bed.

She decided that since she had only gotten 2 hours last night and 2 hours on the couch that she would go to bed too.

"6 p.m. Seriously? I'm like an old maid," Ava said to herself before climbing under the covers and letting her exhausted mind carry her to sleep on the idea that she only had one week left with Kennedy at the precinct; just 10 more hours, she could handle 10 hours. Then she would fix her problems with her family; she would go back to just the average bratty teenager.

School was a blur and a bore like normal. Her and Ella had AP Lit in the morning followed by some ever exciting SAT prep. Lunch was average, everyone talking about the warehouse suds party Saturday night and how her friend Jessica sent her all the photos from the night to have her edit; only problem was that she didn't have her phone.

"I guess I lost it in all the suds," Ava said. "L lost hers too so you know it must have been a good night."

The rest of the day consisted of a nap during pre-calc, a forgotten presentation for AP American history and ended with some new kid asking her for ice cream later only to be hit with the 'sorry I like girls too, but I have a twin sister' conversation during chem.

She met Ella in the quad after to find out her plans for the rest of the day. It was a predictable one, either she was going to go back to the loft to study or to the library and then pick up Ethan from soccer practice at 5 p.m.

"I can't help it A, I just want to be prepared," Ella complained.

"It's cool L, I get it; both twins can't be graced with good looks and great wits," Ava teased.

Ella laughed, "If it makes you feel any better I'll be studying with a partner this time."

"Oh yeah – Anyone I know?"

"Uh yeah actually," Ella started, "It's the new guy in your chem class, Connor, he said you turned him down because you 'play for the same team', but that I might be interested."

"Oh you're not serious about taking my sloppy boy seconds L! I was joking with the kid, but I gotta give it to him for the bold move and so quickly too."

"Hey! They aren't sloppy seconds if you don't even participate on the same team," Ella debated.

Ava chuckled, of course her sister would make that conclusion. Dating was never an issue with them seeing that they were both on opposite sides of the playing field, but it was a bit weird that her reject was Ella's gain for once.

"Alright nerd have fun on your little study date," Ava said before kissing her sister on the cheek and heading off.

But as soon as she turned around she felt Ella tug on her arm and turn her around and give her a tight hug.

"Uh what is this for?" Ava asked still in her sister's squeeze.

"It's just one more week and then it's over. It will finally be over," Ella responded as she let go. "And then after that we can start having study dates!"

"Ha, yeah sis," was all that Ava was able to say.

She knew that the whole arrest and Kennedy situation hit her just as hard as it did Ava. Especially since when it first happened she blamed Ella for ratting out Kennedy to their parents. They didn't speak for a week, until she finally swallowed her pride and realised that Ella was right and she was wrong. And even now with Ella's reaction to her only having a week left with her ex shows her that the whole thing harmed her family in more ways than one.

Her hours spent are the same every week. She makes her way to the 4th floor to say hi to her mom and uncle and then wanders back down to the basement to sort through and organize personal items of past victims. It's pretty morbid stuff, but she just puts on her headphones and dances through the first hour with ease.

It's not until she starts lip sync to some classics when she feels someone tap her on the shoulder. Ava takes off her headphones and turns around to face what she thinks to either be her mother or her boss, Officer Parker. Only there she is instead – Kennedy, just standing in her section of the precinct when she's suppose to be in records.

Ava just glares at her and crosses her arms in the typical Beckett warrior pose.

"I know you don't want to talk to me or even see me, but I needed to tell you something before the week is over," Kennedy finally says.

Ava just stares back at her, not losing her position, but raises an eyebrow is distaste.

So Kennedy continues, "I just want to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I dragged you into what Cooper was doing and that I lied to you about me using."

Ava took a moment to really look at the girl standing in front of her. A girl who was obviously sincere and a little broken. She took a moment to release the tension in her shoulders and softly bite her bottom lip before she realised what she was doing. Kennedy was using her charm to get Ava to fall for her again. So Ava stiffed up again and took another glance at the girl standing in front of her; this was not a broken girl, this was a manipulating woman trying to get her pawn back. So Ava continued to just stand there, not saying a word.

"So anyway I'm clean now, really clean and I wanted you to know that I'm sorry and that hopefully one day soon you'll be able to forgive me and we can go back to our little adventures," Kennedy finished saying with a small smile.

Ava just tightened the press of her lips and waited until Kennedy turned to walk away before she said anything.

"You know you're right," Ava began, "I don't want to talk to you or even look at you."

That was all she said before putting her headphones back on and danced as she finished cataloging items.

After another 30 minutes she felt it was safe to slip out and head back up to the 4th floor. She meet Officer Parker on her way out and had him sign her community service report for the day.

"Hey kid you didn't complete the 2 hours today," he said to her.

Shit. Now is the week that he starts looking at her sign in times.

"Come on Parker you know I'm good for it," she said with a Castle grin. I mean she wasn't trying to hit on him; first off he was like her dad's age and that minor thing about not being attractive to guys had some play. "And besides I'm not leaving the precinct, I still have to go see mommy dearest upstairs. I'll just finish the service with her."

She looked at Officer Parker's stance, trying to gauge if he was buying her excuse to exit. It was only 30 minutes early, but she just couldn't be down here anymore. It had been like Kennedy's presence tainted the place.

It took a couple more sly grins, but Parker finally signed the form and Ava bolted up the stairs. All she wanted to do was get out of this building; to just keep running. She wanted to run through the park, to the docks or across the bridge – just anywhere away from the same city as Kennedy. Only she needed to stop running. She needed to just face her problems; how much could one simple girl be effecting her. So Ava just ran up the stairs and walked towards her mom's office.

* * *

_A/N: Stay with me y'all.  
_

_New chapters every Monday, Wednesday and Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	6. Flattery

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

Flattery

When she got to the homicide floor she saw that her mom was busy with some other detectives in her office so instead searched for her uncle and saw him at his desk.

"Hey uncle Javi," she said. "Working hard or hardly working?"

"Yo you know me, I'm working hard at hardly working," he said giving her a smile. She had always liked her uncles, even though they weren't blood they had been there throughout their parents entire relationship and now their current lives. Her dad once joked that if her and Ella had been boys they would have named them Kevin and Javier – that god that didn't happen.

"What're you doing up here so soon?" he asked a moment later.

"You know me," she smirked, "I avoiding working all together."

"Yeah kid, I know."

They both just sat there for a moment. Ava fumbled with her ipod, it had seen better days – a shattered screen and a charger port that only worked if it was propped up on something. Which reminded her that she needed to get her phone back.

"Hey uncle Javi can you do a favor for me?"

"Sure kid, what's up? Need me to break you out of jail again, or is that joke too soon?" he said.

"No, nothing that extreme – I'll get uncle Kev to handle the hard stuff," she played. "I need you to find something. Do you think you'll be able to do that?"

"You do know that I'm a cop right?" he quipped back.

"A cop yes, but a good one – that's debatable," she followed in the same sarcastic tone. Kevin might have been her godfather and Javi was Ella's, but Ava always had this 'kickback' and playful relationship with uncle Javi.

"You do know that normally people are nice when they ask others for favors, right?"

Ava threw her head back and laughed, "You of all people know that I'm not normal."

"Alright true," he said. "So what sort of favor do you need today kid?"

Ava turned to look back into her mom's office and saw that she was still busy debriefing or reprimanding the detectives in her office. What she was about to ask her uncle wasn't exactly legal – well, legal by her mother's standards at least.

"Don't worry I can a secret from your mom," she turned back around as her uncle spoke. "Besides, she's prepping her new team for an undercover mission next week."

"Aw uncle Javi are you jealous that you aren't apart of the group?" she teased again. Ever since her uncle Kevin left the force, Javi never found the right partner. So now when he isn't running his own team of detectives he is normally her mom's 'right hand man'.

"Seriously kid you're missing the mark on asking for favors. Now tell me what the situation is before I have to put you into a holding cell for harassing an officer of the law."

"Alright fine," she said. "I just need you to find something for me – my cell phone. It's the fourth one I've lost this semester and if my mom finds out, well you know what'll happen."

"Seriously. That's it? Done," he said. "Just let me make a few calls and I'll have it's location."

Just as her uncle picked up his desk to phone to make those phone calls she heard her mom's office door open and 5 different sets of footsteps come towards them.

She quickly got up and was met face to face with her mom.

"Oh hey mom, how'd it go in there? Is the FBI really trying to cover up another loch ness monster attack?" she asked nervously.

The question or her being up on the homicide floor so early took her mom for a moment before she responded.

"What – no. Why would the FBI even care about the loch ness monster anyway, isn't it suppose to be hidden in Scotland?"

"Just a thought," Ava explained.

"You're more like your father everyday – that's terrifying," her mom bantered back patting her on the shoulder before walking past her and Javi to go talk to some officers near the interrogation room.

Ava sat back down in the chair next to her uncle's desk and waited for him to get off the phone.

"Alright thanks, yeah I got it and you're sure? Okay, alright bye man," she heard her uncle say before hanging up the phone. "Alright so they found it, but I'm not sure you're going to like where it's at."

Ava just sat and stared waiting for her uncle to finish and tell her where the hell her phone was. It couldn't be that bad, it was just probably at a friend's house in Midtown or on the Upper West Side. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't even hear what he had said.

"Av you hear me? It's pinging off towers in Hoboken," he repeated.

"Hoboken? As in Hoboken, New Jersey?" she said in near shock.

"That's the place. I say you just let it go – you know your dad's notorious about losing phones this one time there were theses two ninjas…" she heard her uncle say before she stopped listening.

'Hoboken,' she thought to herself. 'How did my phone end up in New Jersey?' The party was at a warehouse in Brooklyn. Hmm, maybe her uncle was right and she should just give it up and hope that her dad will see the story in this mystery and buy her another one – hell she would even take an old phone. But that meant she would be giving up on that girl she met at the party. The first girl she laid her eyes on and made her feel something since Kennedy – no, she needed to get that phone back so she could get that girl.

"And he was just about to call your mom when –"

"Do you have the address?" she interrupted.

"What?"

"Do you have the address of where my phone is uncle Javi?" she reiterated every word to make sure he understood.

"Uh yeah," he said as he shifted through some papers on his desk to retrieve a post-it note. "But listen kid, you shouldn't be heading out to Jersey."

"Oh yeah I know, I just want to see if anyone at school knows someone who lives over there," she lied.

She then proceed to snatch the post-it note from his hand and gave him a rushed kiss on the cheek before heading towards her mom's office.

"Thanks, you're my favorite Hispanic uncle!" she called out.

"I'm your only Hispanic uncle!" she heard him shout across the bullpen.

* * *

"Wanna take me home now? I'm wiped," she said dramatically as she plopped down on the couch in her mom's office and folded one of her arms to cover her face.

She waited a few moments before pulling her arm away from her face to took at her mom. Kate Beckett had always been a gorgeous woman, her high cheekbones made you look, but her hazel eyes made you stare. Ava sat up and watched her mom meddle through a file on her desk with this fierce determination. She had seen the look before, it normally happened when her mom was stuck on a case or her dad was working through a chapter of his latest book and just couldn't get the characters right. Ava had even seen Ella pull that face when she was solving some math problem. It was like the 'family face', used only when solving the toughest of cases.

She took a few minutes before attempting to break her mom's concentration.

"Hello? Earth to Captain KBex, Princess Ava the Great would like to return to casa del Castle," Ava joked.

Nothing. It was like she wasn't even in the same room at her right now.

"How the hell do you run a precinct if you don't even answer your own daughter," Ava tried again.

Hmm. Nope. Ava started flailing her arms trying to get her mom to snap out of it before she decided to go for the killer.

"Mom, I'm pregnant."

Well that worked. Her mom stood up in an instant and threw the file on her desk before forcing a, "What?!"

Ava threw her head back into the couch and laughed. "Come on mom chill. I had to get your attention somehow, and besides I would have to actually be dating guys to get pregnant so I think you're in the clear when it comes to me."

She watched her mom sit back down at her desk. "Oh yeah. Right," she just said flatly before turning back to the file.

"Uh mom, hello?!" Ava said.

Kate finally put the file down and looked at her. "I'm sorry babes, this case has my head spinning. Why did I decide to help run this task force again?"

"Uh, I don't know. Save the cheerleader, save the world?" Ava joked.

She watched as her mom gave a tight smile and rubbed her temples before asking Ava is she was ready to go.

Ava jumped off the couch and threw her backpack over her shoulder before grabbing her mom's briefcase for her. She had to butter her up before asking for Saturday off of grounding so she could go 'studying' with friends. And by 'studying' she meant heading out to freaking Jersey to find her phone.

It wasn't until Ava rushed to open her mom's car door did she finally catch on to what she was trying to play.

"What do you want?" she simply asked as she got into the driver's seat.

"That predictable," Ava asked.

"You do know that I'm a detective right?" her mom said back. "I've also been your mother for 17 years, so yeah I'm pretty sure I have this figured out."

"Yeah you're right mom, I should have never tried to pull a fast one on you in the first place," Ava said, still trying to keep her mom in a good mood. Flattery, it's what uncle Javi said works best when asking for favors.

"Stop with the gimmicks kid. What do you want?"

Damn. Well I guess flattery doesn't work on Kate Beckett.

"Well super cop I was just wondering if I could get my bike back this weekend? I want to go Kris' dad's place to study with her on Saturday," Ava asked. Her friend's parents were divorced so normally on the weekend Kris would head out to her dad's place in Connecticut.

She watched as her mom continued to drive the rush hour traffic. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to get ungrounded, but to take it one step further and ask for the bike too might be pushing it. It had been her mom's once, the same '94 Harley Softail. Her and Ella got it as a surprise on their sweet sixteen last year, but since Ella never even got her license the bike was basically Ava's now – well was, until she got busted.

"I just mean that I would have technically have served my time by then and I should be set free," Ava tried to continue her argument.

She waited for a response. She was ready for a debate. She had all her rebuttals ready, but she was still surprised at her mom's response.

"You'll have to ask your dad," was all she said.

Wow. Okay, that was almost too easy because Ava knew exactly how to get her bike back. You see, flattery may not work well on Kate Beckett, but with Richard Castle flattery was everything.

* * *

_A/N: Alrighty guys I hope this chapter answered at least some of your questions, but if not you can leave a review here or ask me on tumblr. Now I know some of you have been asking for more Ethan encounters and I am happy to let you know that those are coming. However, this story focuses mainly on Ava and I don't know if any of you have or are a teenage girl, but they normally don't hang around their kid brother. _

_I've also decided not to cut my chapters anymore so they should continue to be about this length from now on. _

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday! &amp; seeing how as of today I officially done with the spring semester I might post 2 a day to make sure I get this finished before I have to start my summer courses. Anywho – stay tuned beautiful creatures._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	7. Ella

**Disclaimed.**

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Ella

"Hey, what's dad's favorite dessert?" she asked her sister after rushing to their room and finding her reading on her bed.

"Kate Beckett," Ella said flatly.

"Ew gross," Ava responded distorting her face into a look of pure disgust. Her answer was probably true, but at the same time way, way too disturbing to think about.

"What's dad's favorite dessert food?" she emphasized the word food to make sure she got her point across that she didn't need to know anymore about her parent's sex life from her twin sister.

"I don't know. I'm not your personal encyclopedia," Ella quipped back at her.

"Okaay," Ava said as she made her way over to sit on Ella's bed with her. When they were younger Ella would get in these moods where she would basically cut off the world and the only way to get her to start talking about it was to just do nothing. So she just sat next to Ella on her bed and did nothing, very loudly.

After a few minutes Ella finally sat up and asked, "Why do you need to know dad's favorite dessert anyway?"

Ava just smirked at her sister, "For my ultimate plan of course."

"And that plan would be?"

"I am _so_ glad you asked," Ava said as she jumped off of Ella's bed, went to her closet and pulled out a whiteboard. She then caught Ella up on her recent Kennedy meeting and how uncle Javi found her phone in Jersey, but that mom wouldn't let her get their bike back without asking their dad first. So she then explained how she would get their give the okay by first serving him his favorite dessert, boosting his ego about his new series and then ask for the bike back.

"Smart right?" Ava asked after explaining the plan.

"Why don't you just ask dad flat out for the bike back like you did mom. Or hey maybe you could steal it back?" Ella started saying, "I don't get why you always have to manipulate people into doing things for _you_."

Ava took a step back and sat on her own bed opposite of Ella's across the room.

"Okay so you're being a bitch today," Ava admitted. "What's wrong?"

The room was quiet. The two just stayed in their own corners of the room they had always shared. Until Ella finally got up and placed the book she was reading back on her bookshelf and walked towards the door.

"Maybe I just don't want to be used as a pawn in another one of your games Ava," Ella said as she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"L wait!" Ava called as she rushed down the stairs, but her sister was already out the front door.

Ava reached the bottom and looked over to see her parents in the kitchen and Ethan sitting on a bar stool.

"What was that about?" she heard her dad ask as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Honestly, I have no idea," she responded. "She's being a real bitch -"

"Ava."

"What mom she is! We were just talking and all of a sudden she basically called me a manipulating asshole and stormed out," Ava defended herself.

She watched as her mom looked at her dad to handle the situation and went back to cutting carrots, while Ethan continued doing his homework.

"Well Ava," he started out.

"Don't even bother dad," Ava cut him off. "If she doesn't care about me, I don't fucking care about her."

"Alright cool it with the language," he reprimanded. "Let's have a little chat in my office, bird."

She got off the barstool and followed her dad into his office and reluctantly sat on the chair opposite of his at the desk.

This whole flattery thing to get her bike back was not currently on schedule after Ella's outburst.

"Look dad I'm sorry about cussing in front of Ethan-"

"Do you know what your names mean?" he asked interrupting her apology.

She was taken back by the question. What did this even have to do with Ella being a bitch and storming out.

"Uh, well I know Avalyn means bird or something. Why?" she asked, still confused on where this was heading.

He just laughed and agreed, "Yes it does mean bird, but it's more than that kid."

She watched as her dad sit back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk. An all familiar site she had faced just before he would start telling her a story. So she pulled her feet up and listened.

"When your mother and I first found out she was pregnant with twins we were taken back for a moment. I was stoked, she was terrified – you know how that goes. We could never agree on names either. I was all for naming you guys after the boys, even after we found out we were having girls. I just loved the idea of a gender-neutral name like Kevin and well as for Javier, I'm sure we could have gotten a cute nickname out of that too," he said with a laugh before continuing.

"Anyway, we still didn't have names for you guys when your mom went into labor. But none of that mattered because once you were born it was like time just stopped. You were this beautiful breath of life and your sister – she was your shining light. The two of you were so tiny and so very, very perfect."

He took his feet off of his desk and pulled one of the picture frames off of his desk and handed it to her. It was one she had seen before. One of the very first pictures taken of her and Ella together, asleep on her mom's chest at the hospital.

"You see kid, you are this breath of life. You're wild and refreshing, but you're also rebellious and dangerous. You need your guiding light. You need your Ella," he finished saying.

Ava just stared at the picture in her hands. He was right, she needed Ella.

L had always been there whenever Ava got gotten in trouble – they had even gotten in trouble together back in the day. Things had only started changing between them once Ava got busted with Kennedy. It was like Ella turned into this mini-mom to Ava; always making sure she did her homework or that she was staying out of trouble at school. Ava didn't need another mom though, she just needed her twin sister. But the question now was did Ella need her anymore.

* * *

Ella didn't return home for dinner that night, and Ava had been quiet yet jittery at dinner. She listened as Ethan talked about some soccer player while they cleared the table and started doing the dishes. Her parents sat together on the couch, drinking wine and talking like nothing was wrong.

"Aren't you guys worried?" she forcibly asked after she couldn't handle Ethan's story anymore or their complete lack of care for Ella.

"Worried about what?" her dad asked coyly.

Ava threw her arms up in the air and fell on the couch next to them. "About Ella? You know your daughter; a pretty girl, my height, actually looks _exactly_ like me and she stormed out about 2 hours ago. Aren't you worried where she's at? What's she's doing not coming home for dinner, or I don't know why she stormed out in the first place? I would like to think that you guys are better parents than that."

She waited as her parents just took a moment to look at each other and then back at her before laughing. And with that response Ava was just fueled with rage and gave them a death glare; the same glare she learned to use from watching her mom give it to either her or her dad.

"Sorry, sorry," her mom finally said between giggles. "Honey, trust me we care when you guys storm out. We we're laughing because we were just seeing how long it took until you would ask about her."

"Very funny, but seriously," Ava said.

"Uh oh Beckett, the wild one asked us to be serious. Should we be scared or impressed?" her dad joked.

But Ava was not having any of this tonight. She was serious because she was worried about her sister. She didn't have a phone so she could harass Ella with multiple phone calls or text messages.

Her and L didn't fight. It was their twin promise that they would never go to sleep angry at one another. They both thought if they did that something bad would happen to the other one. All because of one time when they were 8 and they got into a tiff about some Barbie doll and Ava said she hated Ella before bed. Ella ended up having an appendicitis attack and had to get rushed to the ER in the middle of the night. Scariest moment of Ava's life – so far.

She had been so caught up in her worries and memories that Ava didn't notice she had tears running down her cheeks. She quickly went and brushed them away when her mom noticed too.

"Ava, honey, it's okay," she said grabbing her hands.

Ava jumped at her touch and pulled her hands back. She didn't want to be comforted at this moment, she just wanted to know that her sister was okay.

"She called me before dinner," her mom finally answered. "She's spending the night with Alexis and Mark."

Oh. So she's with Alexis and her husband and not dying in some alleyway – good.

"Did she say if she was going to come home tonight?"

"I don't think so honey," her mom said with a sad smile. "She told me she just wanted some space for the night."

"Do you know why?" Ava asked. She needed answers.

"No babes she didn't say. Why don't you just give her the night and talk again in the morning. I'm sure she's just stressing about school right now," her mom said in an attempt to calm Ava down.

It wasn't working though. Knowing that she might be the reason Ella needed to spend the whole night away was not working. Shewas just about to head upstairs when her brother came over to the couch and sat next to her.

"Maybe she was upset over that guy," he said.

"What guy?!" Ava snapped at him.

Ethan jumped at her quick response. "I don't know some guy she was talking about when she was walking me home from soccer practice," he said looking between her and their parents.

Oh right, her date with Connor. Shit. That makes more sense now. Why L called her selfish and why she was reading Eat, Pray, Love. It was Ella's go to 'I'm sad' book.

Great. Ava was selfish and too wrapped up in getting her phone back that she completely forgot to even ask about their 'study date'. But this, no, this she could fix – she just needed to get to Ella first.

Ava took his shoulders in her hands and made him face her. "I need you to tell me everything she said about this guy."

"Fine," Ethan said while trying to squirm out of her pressure hold. "Well first off she was late picking me up and I had to stay with Mrs. Williams and Donnie – did you know he picks his nose and wipes his boogers on me when we scrimmage; it's pretty nasty."

She heard both her parents giggle and Ethan gave them a smile and laughed with them.

"Ethan focus," she told him.

"Yeah okay, so anyway she was late getting me because she said she lost track of time when she was studying with some guy. But if you ask me it looked like she had been crying because her eyes were all red."

"Did she say anything else?"

"No jeez," he said. "Now if I'm done being interrogated I have to go finish my homework. Ms. Norbury said I need at least a B- on this algebra exam to keep my A in the class."

"Yeah I'm not pressing any charges against you so you can go," Ava said giving him a kiss on the cheek. "But don't leave town," she joked.

Ethan laughed and gave his parents a kiss before heading upstairs.

'Okay so it is about Connor, but what could it be?' Ava thought to herself. They only had one study date, what could go wrong in one simply date. Whatever it was she needed to talk to her sister about it. Ella might not want to see her, but she was going to see her.

* * *

"Uhh – so what was that about," her dad asked.

"I don't know yet," Ava responded. "But I plan on figuring it out."

Ava stood up and said, "Now I'm going to ask you two for a favor and I want you to think long and hard before answering."

Her parents both gave her quizzical looks.

"So I have been doing really well in school and I haven't rebelled in any drastic ways these past six months – well minus the recent warehouse party. Anyway, and I know I already asked you this mom, but I was wondering if I could get my bike back?"

She waited as her parents looked at one another and her mom responded, "Yeah sure, you can get it this Friday as soon as you finish your hours at the precinct."

"Great!" Ava said. She then took a few steps forward and sat on the coffee table directly in front of them. "But I was wondering if I could get it back _tonight_?"

"Tonight?" her mom said.

"Yeah?" Ava said as a whisper.

Her mom was just about to say no when her dad spoke up, "Come on Kate, what's a few days early really worth. And besides if we don't say yes she'll probably just take the keys out of my office when we're asleep tonight."

Ava just nodded her head in agreement.

She watched as her mom gave her dad a questioning look before agreeing.

Ava jumped from the table, kissed them both on the cheek and rushed to her dad's office while saying, "You guys are the best. Silver medal winners for ultimate parents!"

She found the keys instantly and came out to grab her helmet from the front closet.

"Wait why silver medal winners, why not gold," her dad asked.

Ava laughed before putting on a straight face and saying, "Oh my god dad, gold is so not your color."

She then opened the door and told her parents that she was heading to Alexis' and to not to wait up for her.

"Text me when you get there!" her mom called out.

Ava duct her head back into the doorway, "Oh yeah, I lost my phone this weekend. But I'll have Alexis text you," she smiled. "K, bye!"

* * *

_New chapter ever Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	8. Upper West Side

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

Upper West Side

The drive to Alexis and Mike's was surprisingly quick despite being all the way in the Upper West Side. Mike's family owned a huge chunk of real estate in the city so he inherited the place from his great-uncle; there was no way a humanitarian could afford a place like theirs.

He and Alexis met during her last year at Columbia and he then followed her 'across the pond' when she studied at Oxford for her clinicals. They moved back to the city when she got a job teaching at NYU a course on psychopaths, and Mike started his first 'Save the River' campaign with Waterkeeper Alliance. Now they were happily married for 10 years with two kids.

'The perfect little family,' Ava thought to herself as she drove into the parking garage of their building. Their doorman, Hank, greeted Ava before she headed in and made her way to the elevator.

On her way up it finally hit her that she kind of had no idea what she was going to say. Ella had been rejected by boys before, but more than that she normally had guys hanging on every word out of her mouth – so why did this one make her freak?

The elevator finally made it to their floor and Ava stepped out and made her way to their door. She took a breath and said to herself, 'Just apologize. A sincere apology is felt more than heard.'

It was a simple saying that their gram had taught them when they were younger. Her and Ella were always in some type of trouble when they were younger; nothing bad, just stealing lipstick from their mom or trying on their Gram's wardrobe without asking.

"Just apologize," she said to herself before knocking.

Mike was the one to answer the door. He was a good looking guy, tall, kind eyes; reminded her a lot like her dad honestly.

"Oh hey Ava. We were expecting you sooner or later. She's on the couch," he kindly said, letting her in.

"Hey Mike. Sorry it's late," Ava replied. "How are the kids?"

"Good thanks. We'll be over for Sunday dinner this week. Mikey is really exciting to see Ethan's new drumset," he smiled.

Mikey was their oldest at 8, he had dark locks like his dad and bright blues like Alexis.

"Yeah well don't let him get too excited or he might want one," she joked as she made her way into their living room to find Ella.

She found her on the couch with a cup of tea in her hand talking to Alexis.

She met Alexis' eyes first.

"Hey Ava," she said with a sad smile.

Alexis wasn't at home much of their childhood, you know the whole age gap situation, but it didn't make her any less of a sister. Because of her and their dad's impenetrable relationship they always had weekly Skype dates and semi-annual trips. When the twins got older and started having fights more often she became the buffer of their twinship.

However, ever since she and Mike had Maddy two years ago her and Ella backed off and gave Alexis her more daughter time instead of twin time. So it was a bit odd that whenever a little tiff happened between her and Ella that L would run back here.

"Hey Alexis," Ava said as she made her way towards the couch. "Hey L."

Ella didn't respond, she just stared into her mug.

"Well, I'm going to go call dad to tell him that you both are here now and then head to bed. You guys can sleep in Mike's den tonight," Alexis said as she got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen.

"Thanks," the twins said at the same time.

Ava smiled while she watched Ella duck her head again and stare into the now empty mug.

"I'm-"

"I see you got the bike back," Ella interrupted as she lifted her head and motioned towards Ava's helmet by the door.

"Uh yeah I did," Ava said. "Look L, I'm sor-"

"I don't want to fight anymore," she interrupted again.

"I don't want to fight anymore either. I know I'm an undeserving jackass and you have the right to hate me at times, but L you can't run out and leave me hanging. I didn't even know that things went south with you and what's his name– Connor! You need to stop pulling a 'Beckett' and speak up for once," Ava said. "As much as dad likes to think we can't actually read each others minds."

Ella looked up from her mug and gave Ava a small smile.

"Do you remember that one April Fool's joke we played on him when we were 6. He totally believed that we were reading each others minds!" she laughed.

Ava scooted closer to her sister on the couch and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry that things didn't work out with you and Connor," Ava said.

Ella released the hug and said, "Who said they didn't work out?"

"Uh, Ethan?" Ava questioned. "He said when you picked him up from soccer practice you had been crying and you were talking about some boy, so I just– and you were reading that eat, pray book earlier."

She watched as Ella watched her struggle to form a complete thought at this point.

"You're seriously trusting the wise words of a 12-year-old adolescent boy for the recent family gossip?" Ella joked.

Ava just sat there, still shell shocked about the whole situation.

"My date with Connor went fine. It was just coffee at the library, and I barely know the kid why would I freak out about him already," Ella joked some more.

"Okay then why the freak out and crying and why were you reading that stupid book," Ava questioned. If it wasn't Connor that made Ella upset then what the hell was it.

Ella just laughed. "I happen to like that book for more than just coping with break-ups!"

They both laughed before Ella continued. "I was 'crying' because it's freaking spring and my allergies are insane right now, and heading out to the park does not help. The freak out well – you've kind of been an ass lately so I needed to give you a taste of your own medicine. I also knew that if I left you would freak out and force mom and dad to give you back your bike so you actually owe me a thank you."

Ava was shocked and honored at the same time. Shocked that Ella had the criminal mastermind that she did and honored that she gave a full on 'Martha' show and help her out.

"You did that for me?" she played.

"Yeah I did," Ella said.

She scooted closer to Ava again. "Look Ava, you're wild and sometimes it feels like no one can control you and maybe that's a good thing in the future, but right now you need to trust the people who love you. So if I have to stage a 'Martha' and run out to get you to come back down to Earth that's what I'm going to do. It doesn't matter if in the moment I don't like you; you're my twin sister and I'll always love you."

Ava let a tear slip from her eye. Great her sister has to perform to get her attention.

"Well, _thank you _for helping me get my bike back, but there was no need for the freak out. You could have simply said I was being a bitch and then have been done with it. I mean I know I've been a bit moody, but no– you're right. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ella said proudly. "So are you still going to Jersey this weekend?"

"Yeah! Do you wanna come?! You can ride bitch seat on the bike," Ava quipped.

Ella giggled. "No I'm just fine staying in the city, and this is your mystery to solve. I'll play your Robin and hold down the fort with the Castles."

They both sat back into the couch with their arms entangled with one another.

"I'm glad you don't actually hate me," Ava finally said.

"Never," Ella returned.

"Never... Good."

"Do you think 'never' will be like mom and dad's 'always'?" Ella asked her.

"Oh god I hope not," Ava joked. "My greatest love-story cannot simply be my relationship with my twin sister."

That remark earned her an elbow from Ella before they both got up and went to bed.

* * *

_A/N: I don't like when the girls fight, it makes my stomach hurt._

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


	9. New Jersey

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

New Jersey

The rest of the week went by swimmingly – well as swimmingly as still having to go to the precinct and seeing Kennedy sulk in the records room every time Ava passed by to go up to the homicide floor.

Only none of that mattered now. All that mattered was the fact that in less than 2 hours Ava was done with community service and done seeing Kennedy all together – well unless they passed each other in the halls at school, but Ava was careful in avoiding her.

* * *

She met her mom as she was exiting the elevator.

"Hey babes what's the rush?"

"Oh nothing mom, just looking forward to some freedom this weekend."

Her mom let out a small laugh before saying, "I understand. I need to run these files down to Greg before we go. Do you mind?"

"Yeah what's a few more minutes when I've been here for six months," Ava quipped back.

Kate gave her a light shove on the shoulder before passing by her and entering the elevator. "You act like you were never able to leave. Go see your uncle, he's been in a mood lately. I bet I'll be back before he will tell you what's wrong."

"Deal," Ava said as she watched the elevator doors close.

She strutted over to her uncle's desk where he sat angrily typing on his keyboard.

"Hello detective, you look quite horrible today " she teased.

He just grunted at her and went back to typing.

"Come on uncle Javi, tell princess Ava what's wrong," she quipped at him trying to refocus the mood. "Are you upset because you won't see my beautiful face everyday? I can send you selfies if that'll make you feel better."

"I'm fine," was all that he responded with.

Ava scooted her chair closer to him and said, "Listen here grump, I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm actually showing some compassion for once so don't take this for granted."

He gave her a quizzical look, but still didn't diverge whatever was bothering him.

"Alright, I have a bet going on with my mom right that kind of focuses on you telling me why you've been grumpy today. So how about you tell me what's wrong and I tell you what kind of bonus you'll be getting this year."

"I'm old."

"What?" his response caught her by surprise.

"I'm old. That's what's wrong," he said. "I'm old and I'm divorced and I don't have any kids and what if my time is up? What if I don't meet the right girl before I'm able to have kids. All of my friends have kids or grandkids. What if I die alone like an old spinster with like eight cats?"

Ava just gave a face of pure shock. This was totally not the way she saw this conversation heading.

Her uncle must of noticed because he quickly said, "Oh god this is not a conversation I should be having with you kid. You're 17 and you're my boss' daughter. Sorry."

Ava regained her composure before telling him that it was okay and that she didn't mind that he was having a midlife crisis in front of her. "You know if you want to feel young again I have a couple friends who would love to date a detective," she teased.

"Ha ha very funny, but I'm going to decline," he said and then went back to typing.

"Your loss," she said with a smile while she scooted her chair back to it's place at the side of his desk.

They both sat there as he worked until she noticed her mom get off the elevator. Ava took the opportunity to make eye contact with her and mouth the words 'he's old' to her mother.

She got a smile from her before she entered her office to talk to another detective.

Ava took the last minutes she had at the precinct to make sure her weekend plans still involved a trip to New Jersey.

"Hey uncle Javi do you know if my phone is still sitting in Hoboken?"

"Last I check, yeah why? I thought your dad go you a new phone already?"

"Oh yeah my burner phone," she joked as she pulled the device out of her pocket. "Works great if I want to commit a murder, but it's not really helping with my street cred. Besides I have very important information on my old phone that I need."

"Business or pleasure," he joked.

She followed his playful attitude, glad that he was able to forget that he was old for a minute. "A little of both if you must know," she said.

"You know you should,'t-"

"Ava your dad's waiting outside, let's go," her mom interrupted. "Bye Espo!"

"Coming," Ava said as she leaned in and kissed her uncle on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll use protection," she joked before following her mom into the elevator. "And you're not old!"

* * *

That Friday night consisted of a family dinner to celebrate Ava's 'completion of rebellion' as her father liked to joke.

The situation felt like a lie though, seeing that Ava was about to break her parents trust again just to get her phone back.

Ella must have felt her tension during dinner, because once they were home and in bed she asked Ava if going to Jersey was a smart idea.

"Come on A, it's just a phone. What's so important that you need from it?" she said.

Ava was quiet as she laid in bed. Her sister was right, it was just a phone, but it was also hope. The hope that a nice old lady who lived in New Jersey found her phone and it's not some creepy guy taking it hostage. More than anything though it was the girl. That feeling she got, even drunk, about that girl at the party. She needed that hope.

"You don't have nudes on there do you?!" she heard Ella scream and sit up in bed.

"Oh my god, no!" Ava said as she sat up and faced her sister.

Ava watched as Ella relaxed. "Okay, so what is it then?"

"It's about a girl," Ava whispered.

"A girl?"

"Yeah, a girl," she said, and laid back down to pull the covers over her face.

The room was silent for a moment. Ava thought that Ella had given up the the conversation, until she pulled her covers back down and looked at her sister still sitting on her bed facing her.

Ella gave her a sad smile. "Is she cute?"

Ava laughed, "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, " Ella started, "What's her name?"

Oh shit. What was her name? They had only met 'officially' once at the party, but Ava had seen her in the city and other parties before – when she was dating Kennedy.

Ava just stuttered, "Uhh, I don't know."

She was waiting for the blowback from Ella. She was waiting for the 'Beckett' lecture she liked to call it, but all Ella said to her was, "Okay."

"Okay?" Ava said in shock as she sat up again. "That's it? No 'I don't think that's a responsible decision'. Or any 'maybe you should take someone with you'. Just okay?"

"Yeah," Ella said, "Just okay."

Ava sat there for a moment looking at her sister as she settled back into bed. Her look of shock must have been obvious still because Ella started to explain herself.

"Look A, I could say all those things to you, but it wouldn't make any difference in your decision because your mind is already made up," she began again. "You're stubborn, just like mom, but at the same time you're nothing like her – you're dad," she laughed. "You have this huge heart for people, it's your weak point, and I'm not saying that mom doesn't have a huge heart because she does, but you have the heart of a story teller. You're going across state lines to retrieve a phone that you don't know who the hell has for a chance to get back this girl's number. You fell in love with a girl you barely know, and I say love because it has been plastered on your face ever since you started talking about this 'mission' and about this girl."

Ava felt the blood rush to her face and smiled slightly. Was this love? I mean it was the first kind of anything she felt ever since Kennedy.

"So yeah, I'm just going to say okay to you. I'm going to let you go finish your story and find the girl, and I'm going to support you because that's what sisters are for, but I'm also going to make sure uncle Javi has your burner phone GPS on so I can track you," Ella said with a bit of a smirk.

Ava just sat there thinking about what Ella had said. Was it love? She never saw herself as a 'love at first site' type of girl, but maybe she had gone soft. The comparison to her dad threw Ava off as well – she had always been the Beckett type of kid and Ella the Castle. But L was right, she needed to know the story.

* * *

The trip to Jersey wasn't set to take that long so Ava didn't set an alarm for the morning, but she was still up at 6 a.m. filled with anxiety. So she ventured down to the kitchen to make some coffee. She was surprised to see her dad sitting at the counter with a french press already prepared.

"Hey dad," she greeted him. "You're up early."

"Hey bird," he said to her as he went to kiss her cheek. "You too. Can't sleep?"

"Just got a bit of the shakes, you?"

"A bit of the Beckett," he said playfully.

That's what she figured. If her dad was awake before 9 a.m. on a weekend it had to deal with her mom either the fiction or nonfiction version of her. But seeing that he wasn't working on Nikki Heat at the moment it had to be the latter.

"What the captain come home last night instead of your wife?" she joked.

"Ever since she got on the go-ahead on this new task force it seems like the captain has taken my wife hostage. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Ava just poured her coffee while her dad spoke.

"But anyway that's not your problem bird," he continued. "Why the shakes this morning?" he questioned.

Ava just gave a shrug, which only prompted his curiosity more.

"Ohh a mystery of the teenage anxiety, I like it!" he said as his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Let's see it's not school that's bothering you, because you don't care about school. So it has to be personal,"

Ava just smiled, "I'm glad we can be honest with one another about my lack of caring for schoolwork."

"Ooh it is personal. A girl perhaps? Not Kennedy I hope," he said.

Ava just shook her head. "No dad, definitely not Kennedy. She is not a problem for this family anymore."

"Well good, that's all I need to know right now," he said. "No need for any spoilers; I'll just wait until I find it making out with my daughter on the couch one day."

"That was one time!"

It did happen only once. Her and Kennedy had been seeing each other for a week when they decided to skip 5th block and go back to her place to 'hang out'. Her dad was suppose to be on a month-long book tour, but decided to come back to surprise her mom for Valentine's day. Little did he know he was about to walk in on his daughter and her then girlfriend making out on the couch. Fun way to introduce everyone.

"Ah yes baby bird, but it now brings a lifetime of embarrassment to you and that is priceless to me," he joked.

* * *

She had spent a couple solid hours with her dad before he had to go get Ethan up for his soccer game. So she headed upstairs and got ready for her adventure.

She threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, a grey tshirt and her mom's vintage red leather jacket before tying her hair into a loose braid.

By the time she finished getting ready Ethan and her dad had left for his soccer game and Ella was headed out for another 'study' date with Connor.

She expected to see her mom in her dad's office, but when she looked through the bookcase she noticed that their bedroom door was still shut. So Ava went and knocked on the door before entering her parent's room.

She found her mom still in bed, which was odd because her mom never stayed in bed past 8 a.m. even on vacation.

"Hey babes," her mom greeted her as she patted a spot on the bed next to her to have Ava come and sit.

"Hi mom. Feeling okay?"

"Just a bit of a headache today, but I'll be alright," her mom said as she grabbed Ava's hand and intertwined their fingers and squeezed. They used to play the same game when she was younger. You would squeeze your partners hand in some kind of rhythmic sequence and they would have to copy it. "You heading out for the day?"

Ava squeezed her mom's hand back in the same sequence to start the game before saying, "Yeah, I figured I'd go out for a ride this morning. Fully embrace my freedom while I still have it."

Her mom just smiled slightly and continued playing the game until Ava wasn't paying attention and lost.

"You sure you're okay mom? You know I can stay home if you just want to hang out today."

It was true, she could stay. Her phone had been in Hoboken for a week, what's another day.

"No babes I'm good, just a long night. Go and have fun."

"Alright," Ava said reluctantly. "I love you mom." She leaned over and gave her mom a great big hug.

She pulled away and her mom gave her a sad smile before saying, "I love you too babes. So much."

* * *

The ride to New Jersey wasn't bad considering it was a weekend, but then again on the weekends most people were heading into the city instead of out to New Jersey.

Ava pulled into the neighborhood that uncle Javi said her phone had been pinging off. She quickly found 255 3rd Street.

"Alright this isn't creepy," Ava said out loud as she approached the door.

So this could go a couple ways, Ava thought to herself. There could be a crazy guy who found her phone and is now waiting for her to knock so he could kill her or someone could have simply found her phone and decided to keep it for themselves. 'Or I'm thinking too much and I should just knock,' Ava said to herself before doing that exact thing.

"I'll get it grandma!" she heard through the door.

Oh so she was right, it was a nice old lady that found her phone and not some creepy dude. Points her!

Only it wasn't a nice old grandma that answered the door, nor was it some creepy dude. It was literally the last thing Ava expected to answer the door.

"Ava?!"

* * *

_A/N: Ooh a cliffhanger?_

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme** (I'll take prompts)


	10. Confrontation

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

Confrontation

"What're you doing here? How did you find me?"

All Ava could do was stand there, mouth opened like a fish out of water.

"Ava?"

"How do you-" it was like she was unable to form a coherent thought. All she could do was stare at the beautiful blonde that was in front of her. The same beautiful blonde from the party. The same beautiful blonde from the party who made her heart skip a beat, just like it was doing right now.

"My phon-phone," she finally choked out.

The girl stood still in the doorway. "Oh right, yeah you left it at the party and I was um, I was going to try to bring it to you, but I've just been busy," she said.

Her voice was smooth and buttery, it was everything Ava ever wanted to hear.

She pulled herself out of her trance. As much as she wanted this girl, she had no idea who she was really.

"I'm sorry, um how do you know who I am – I mean I know we met at the warehouse party and I was pretty drunk, but how?" Ava was almost able to get a complete sentence out.

"Oh yeah, um wow so this is weird now. We met at the party, yes."

"Right," Ava agreed.

"But um, we have met before," the girl said. "At another party, you were with someone else though so we only briefly introduced ourselves and then I saw you again at the warehouse and I thought oh hey this must be fate right? Until you got dragged out by I'm assuming your sister seeing that you two look exactly alike, except for the haircut of course, and now I'm rambling so I'll stop talking."

Oh she's cute, and she babbles when she gets nervous and it's adorable, Ava thought to herself.

"Yes my twinster, Ella. She cut her hair back in December, but before then you probably couldn't have been able to tell us apart," Ava joked.

"Twinster?" the girl asked.

"Oh yeah sorry, um we're twins and we're sisters, it's just a joke that my parents used to say and... you probably don't care," Ava realized.

But the girl was quick with her own response. "No, I think it's cute," she said.

Ava felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "Anyway so how did you end up with my phone?"

"Right, your phone, the reason you're here. Well, once your _twinster_ pulled you out I noticed your phone was sitting on the bench we were sharing, so I took it in hopes that I would see you in the city soon," she answered.

"So you don't live in the city, you live here? In New Jersey," Ava said and instantly regretted. The way to this girl's heart was not going to be by questioning her living arrangements. "Sorry that came out wrong, um I should go–"

"No, stay," she said grabbing Ava's arm. "It's okay. But uh yeah I live here with my grandma. You know New Jersey isn't _that_ bad," she joked.

Great so this girl is beautiful and has a sense of humor. Ava was swooned by her and she didn't even know her name.

"You're right, it's not that bad." Ava joked with her, "I mean you guys do have the 'Cake Boss' down the street."

She laughed. It was quiet, but it was a laugh. They both just stared at each other for a moment. Ava took in everything her eyes had to offer; the way they glimmered under the noon sun with a brilliant shade of blue. A blue not like her father's, but a grey toned blue with depth. A blue that she could get lost in for days.

"I should go get your phone," she said breaking the gaze.

Ava just stood on the porch and waiting for her to get back. Maybe L was right and she was like her father, just a mush of love. 'Oh god did I just think that,' Ava said to herself before the girl came back with her phone.

"Here ya go," she said as she handed the iPhone to Ava, allowing their hands to briefly brush.

"Why'd you think you would see me in the city anyway?" Ava said, not wanting the conversation to end.

"Oh well um I actually go to school in the city," the girl began. "I just recently moved here after my parents died. I guess the school didn't have the heart to take away my scholarship even if I wasn't in the proper district."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to open any wounds," Ava tried to apologize.

"No worries, we're good – my gram and me, we figured it out," she said.

Ava was just about to speak again when her burner phone rang. "Uh sorry it's my sister I need to take this," she apologized as she turned around and answered her phone.

"Hey L what's up? – What, what do you mean they know? – Well did you tell them? Okay, okay yeah I'll be there as soon as I can."

Ava turned back to face her crush/friend/girl she doesn't know, but might be in love with and said, "I'm actually needed back home, but I hope we can see each other again?"

"I would like that Ava," the girl replied.

Ava smiled and said, "I would like that too – um I'm sorry I don't think I remember your name."

"It's Charlie, well Charlotte, but everybody calls me Charlie," she said.

"Well then Charlie, until we meet again," Ava said.

"Until then," Charlie responded.

Ava then put her helmet on and jumped on her bike to drive back towards the city to face the hell-fire from her parents again and a punishment she would surely get that was totally worth it.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this chapter was a bit late, I had commencement happening this weekend. I decided to keep it short and just get Ava's and Charlie's first meeting in focus. Keep giving me backhanded compliments._

_New chapter every Monday, Wednesday, Friday._

**tumblr: kateskillingme**


End file.
